Pentecost is the only holy day that is not a set date. It is counted from the wave sheaf, and is always on a Sunday.

The Day of Pentecost is also called the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Firstfruits.

What is the new knowledge for this feast?

Why is this Feast called the Feast of Firstfruits?

Lev 23:15  ‘And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed.

Lev 23:16  Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the LORD.

Lev 23:17  You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They are the firstfruits to the LORD.

Lev 23:21  And you shall proclaim on the same day that it is a holy convocation to you. You shall do no customary work on it. It shall be a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

Lev 23:22  ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field when you reap, nor shall you gather any gleaning from your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger: I am the LORD your God.’

Deu 16:9  “You shall count seven weeks for yourself; begin to count the seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the grain.

Deu 16:10  Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the LORD your God blesses you.

Look at how God instructs us to observe the Feast of Pentecost. We rejoice and remember that we were in slavery to sin and God called us out of that slavery.

Deu 16:11  You shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your gates, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are among you, at the place where the LORD your God chooses to make His name abide.

Deu 16:12  And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.

This day is one of the three times that God says the men are to appear before Him with an offering.

Deu 16:16  “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles; and they shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed.

Deu 16:17  Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you.

Another example of the counting of weeks.

Notice Pentecost is called here the day of the firstfruits.

Num 28:26  ‘Also on the day of the firstfruits, when you bring a new grain offering to the LORD at your Feast of Weeks, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work.

Two loaves of bread are waved at Pentecost. These loaves picture the firstfruits.

One pictures Christ who is the bread of life.

Joh 6:35  And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.

The other loaf represents the people of God who are the firstfruits.

If it were not for the elect who are the firstfruits the world would be destroyed.

Mat 24:22  And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.

Lev 23:16  Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the LORD.

Lev 23:17  You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They are the firstfruits to the LORD.

Christ told the disciples that they would receive the Holy Spirit from the Father.

Joh 14:16  And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever

The Spirit is also called the Spirit of truth. In other places in the Bible it is called the Spirit of power, and the Spirit of promise.

Joh 15:26  “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.

The Holy Spirit was sent once Christ returned to the Father.

Joh 16:7  Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.

The Holy Spirit of Power was given to the disciples on the day of Pentecost.

They had already received the earnest of the Spirit at baptism.

If we read and believe the scriptures, the truth becomes plain to us. It is so obvious by the following scriptures that the disciples received the earnest of the Spirit at baptism and then at Pentecost they received the Spirit of Power or Truth.

Act 1:8  But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

These scriptures show that they received the earnest of the Spirit at baptism.

Act 11:15  And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, as upon us at the beginning.

Act 11:17  If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?”

Notice also that Christ said the disciples would receive another Helper {or comforter} which means they already had the earnest of the Spirit at that time.

Joh 14:16  And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever

Christ said in the following verse that they already had the Spirit dwelling in them.

Joh 14:17  the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

So did Paul.

Rom 8:23  Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.

Notice the events of the day of Pentecost.

Act 2:1  When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

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

Act 2:3  Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.

Act 2:4  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

The disciples were promised the Holy Spirit of power on the day Christ was raised from the dead. Which was the Wavesheaf. This Spirit was given to them on the day of Pentecost.

Joh 20:22  And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

It is important that we understand the difference between the earnest of the Spirit and the Holy Spirit of power.

We are given the earnest of the Spirit at baptism, which is a small down payment. This is given when we are called.

After many years of trial and testing, God decides if we believe the words of eternal life and believe Him and obey Him. If we love Him and love the fabulous new knowledge of eternal life, then we receive the Holy Spirit of power, when God decides we are capable of having it. When we receive the Holy Spirit of Power that is when we are chosen.

Once we have the Holy Spirit of power we have eternal life inherent, we must continue to the end and prove faithful stewards, we must continue on being close to God, believing Him and obeying, growing and learning all the time.

God does not give the Spirit of Power without a great deal of testing and trial for us. The stakes are too high, if we fail we will then have eternal death. We must be serious about this calling as eternal life is at stake.

Pentecost pictures the receiving of the Holy Spirit of Power. This is eternal life inherent.

The Day of Pentecost is also called the Feast of Firstfruits. That is because when we receive the Holy Spirit of Power we are then a firstfruit. We are not a firstfruit until that time.

On the day of Pentecost mentioned in Acts 2, Peter was preaching and told of what would happen in the time before the Day of the Lord. That is the end time, that is the time of the Laodicean era of God’s church.

Now notice what will happen at that time, the Spirit will be poured out on all flesh and your sons and daughters will prophesy.

Act 2:17  ‘AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS IN THE LAST DAYS, SAYS GOD, THAT I WILL POUR OUT OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL FLESH; YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY, YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS, YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS.

The scriptures states clearly that there will be both males and females who will prophesy at the end time before the Day of the Lord.

Act 2:18  AND ON MY MENSERVANTS AND ON MY MAIDSERVANTS I WILL POUR OUT MY SPIRIT IN THOSE DAYS; AND THEY SHALL PROPHESY.

There is an exciting parallel between the 40 days that the spies searched out the Promised Land, and the 40 days that Christ appeared to His disciples after He was risen from the dead.

The Holy Spirit of power was promised 50 days before it was given.

Joh 20:22  And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

Luk 24:49  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.”

Act 1:4  And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me;

Act 2:4  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

When they spoke in tongues, people from various parts of the land who spoke with different languages, were all heard in their own language. Here is an example, so we can understand a little clearer, an Italian spoke in Italian to a German and the German heard the words in German.

Act 2:11  Cretans and Arabs we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.”

There is a good reason for the 50 days from the Wave Sheaf to Pentecost. During this time, the Spirit of truth is with us. This is the time that God teaches us the knowledge of the truth. We already have the earnest of the Spirit, and now the Spirit of truth is with us.

Joh 14:16  And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever

Joh 14:17  the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

Caleb had a different spirit.

Num 14:24  But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it.

There were twelve men sent into the Promised Land by Moses, one from each tribe.

Num 13:2  “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a leader among them.”

They spent forty days searching the Promised Land.

Num 13:25  And they returned from spying out the land after forty days.

Jesus taught about the Promised Land {Kingdom of God} for forty days.

Act 1:3  to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

What a beautiful truth. The men spent forty days in the Promised Land, searching it out. Christ spent forty days showing the disciples the parallel of the Promised Land, the Kingdom of God.

Ten men brought an evil report of the Promised Land.

Num 13:27  Then they told him, and said: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.

Num 13:32  And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature.

Num 13:33  There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”

Only Joshua and Caleb wanted the Promised Land.

Num 14:6  But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes;

Num 14:7  and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying: “The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land.

Num 14:8  If the LORD delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, ‘a land which flows with milk and honey.’

Num 14:9  Only do not rebel against the LORD, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the LORD is with us. Do not fear them.”

Only Joshua and Caleb eventually went into the Promised Land.

Num 14:30  Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in.

The men who were fearful died by the plague.

Num 14:37  those very men who brought the evil report about the land, died by the plague before the LORD.

The disciples all wanted the Promised Land [eternal life and the Kingdom of God]. They spent ten days waiting for the Spirit of truth to come after being taught forty days about the Kingdom.

Act 1:3  to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

Act 1:4  And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me;

Act 1:5  for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

We love the knowledge of the truth and have pledged our lives to obeying Christ and God the Father. This truth is only available from God, and when He decides to reveal it to us.

2Ti 3:7  always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Luk 10:22  All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”

Joh 17:3  And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

How beautiful is the meaning of the day of Pentecost, and the days leading up to this day.

When God decides to offer us eternal life, He puts the Spirit of truth with us, so we can learn of the Kingdom of God. He then gives us time to reflect and pray about the Kingdom. Once we accept the new knowledge of eternal life, and show God we love Him, believe Him, and obey Him, He then gives us eternal life inherent in the form of the Holy Spirit of truth.

God’s tremendous love and patience is shown at this time. If we refuse eternal life during the fifty days, we can go back to the world and still have a chance at eternal life later on. By doing this, we will not please God, and have thrown away our chance to be a firstfruit. We do not yet have the Spirit of truth in us until God gives it to us, the disciples received it at Pentecost, and it is probable that this is when it is given today also. There are requirements of receiving the Holy Spirit of power or truth, we must believe, love and accept the new knowledge of eternal life, which God has given to us.

We cannot blaspheme the Spirit prior to receiving it.

THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE that people would actually refuse eternal life. We are not talking about people in the world, we are talking about people who already have the earnest of the Spirit. So why don’t they want eternal life?

Obviously their hearts are not right towards God.

During the time of the exodus, God required the men to have physical courage to enter the Promised Land. Physical and spiritual courage is required to enter the Promised Land by God’s spiritual servants.

The Promised Land is a type of eternal life.

Jos 1:6  Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.

Rev 21:6  And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.

Rev 21:7  He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.

Rev 21:8  But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

Pentecost is a Holy Day and no work is to be done.

Lev 23:21  And you shall proclaim on the same day that it is a holy convocation to you. You shall do no customary work on it. It shall be a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

We are called chosen and faithful, if we are to be firstfruits.

We are called when we receive the earnest of the Spirit.

We are chosen when we accept the end time knowledge for God’s church. This is the knowledge of eternal life. We must love this new knowledge, we must believe it, we must obey it. Then we must pass the tests and trials which God puts before us, we must believe and obey God. God will decide when we qualify to receive the Holy Spirit of power. Once we have the Holy Spirit of power or truth, we are chosen and have eternal life inherent.

We then must press on with our spiritual calling and prove faithful until the end.

The end time knowledge which God is giving to the Laodicean era of His church, is restored knowledge. Much has been lost since the time of the disciples, and this new knowledge differs from what we have been taught till now. God is restoring all things, knowledge will be increased, this is the time of the end.

What a fabulous plan God has for His people. The new knowledge of this day is exciting, let us rejoice in this Holy Day as God instructs us.

The receiving of the Holy Spirit of power is eternal life inherent, what a priceless gift.

Our God is a God of love, let’s not disappoint Him, let us strive with our whole heart and mind and being to be a firstfruit.

No greater gift could be offered, let’s prove to be faithful and endure to the end.

It would be advised to read two of our articles which are meat in due season. They are: Two Phases of the Spirit and Called Chosen and Faithful.

Both of these articles deal with the receiving of the Holy Spirit of Power. It would be a good idea to read these before the day of Pentecost or as a second service on the day of Pentecost.