In celebration of this day I had a bible study with my 2 favorite girls on the planet. Here's the bible study I just went through with my wife and oldest daughter. My prayer is that it blesses you as much if not more than us.
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"it is the Spirit who gives life" Jn. 6:63
Origin
Shavuot is historically and symbolically related to the Jewish harvest festival, which commemorates God giving the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai fifty days after the Exodus.
Shavuot was instituted(by the LORD) as a harvest festival, which represented the end of the barley harvest and the first fruits of the wheat harvest [Scripture Reading: Lev 23:15-16]
The feast also commemorates the giving of the Covenant of Sinai [ Scritpure Reading: Exodus 19:1- 20:23]
The LORD told His people to observe this feast 50 days after a certain sabbath that historically fell on the second day of Passover. Thus the counting reminds us of the important connection between Passover and Shavuot.
Old Covenant Implication: Passover freed Israel physically from bondage,The giving of the Torah on Shavuot redeemed Israel spiritually from its bondage to idolatry and immorality. This reminds us that Israels redemption from slavery was not complete until they were given the Torah.
As the LORD gave His people the Torah he instructed them to obey/keep the Covenant and not turn from Him to idols. Ultimately they disobeyed which broke the Covenant and resulted in separation between them and their God.
The LORD did not leave His people in this state but rather prophesied of a New Covenant that would supersede the first, and solve -once and for all- their problem of inability to obey Him.
The Connection
The Tanakh (Old Testament) anticipated a new covenant between God and Israel which establishes the relationship between the giving of the Torah on Shavuot and the giving of the Spirit. The LORD prophesied that He would soon not only give the Torah but write it on His peoples hearts and put His Spirit in them- causing them to keep His statutes and obey His covenant. [Scripture Reading: Jer 31:30-34, Ezekiel 36:24-28]
Fulfillment
The LORD fulfilled His promise at the Shavuot in 33 A.D. Here he poured out His Spirit on the Apostles and other disciples, and empowered them to keep His Covenant. This occurred just "50 days" after the Passover celebration where our Lord Yeshua Ha'MaShiach (Jesus Christ) was sacrificed as the "Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the World".
Among Christians, Pentecost commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus during the Jewish Shavuot or "fiftieth day" celebration in Jerusalem. [Scripture Reading: Acts 2]
The physical presence of God upon Sinai in wind, sound, and fire from Exodus 19-20 was here duplicated upon each of the believers present at that Pentecost in Acts 2.
New Covenant Implication: The Passover that occurred at Jesus’ death frees believers physically from the bondage of being slaves to sin. The giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost redeems believers from bondage to idolatry and immorality and empowers them with the power to keep God’s law (it’s written on our new hearts Jer 31/Ezek 36). This reminds us that our redemption form sin, although accomplished at Calvary, was not complete until the giving of the Spirit at Pentecost.
Bonus: The Significance re: Salvation
Paul's depiction of the new covenant highlights the significance of the arrival of the Spirit on Shavuot (2 Cor 3:1-18). He shows the strong connection between the work of the Spirit and the "new covenant," which he contrasts with the Torah that Israel received at Sinai. In this comparison, Paul echoes Jeremiah's promise that God will place his Spirit upon the hearts of his people and not upon stone tablets, which God gave to Moses at Sinai. Through his Spirit, which is the hallmark of the "new covenant," God imparts life to his people (2 Cor 3:6).
Despite its glory, the Torah did not produce life, but death (2 Cor 3:7). Paul affirms that the Torah is holy, righteous and good, but it lacks the ability to produce the same divine empowerment as the Spirit
Ok back to the study...
*** An interesting and relative point was brought to me by one of my boys (Shout out to B RICH) this evening as he shared of His experience at a Messianic Synagogue's Shavuot Service tonight. The Rabbi made a correlation between the '3000' people in Ex. 32 who died on the same day in the desert for breaking the Covenant the LORD gave them at Mt Sinai by making a carved/golden calf to worship, and the '3000' people who were filled with the Spirit and added to the Church in Acts 2. WOW! Wish I were there!
Now Paul does not malign the Torah, since he depicts it as arriving with glory, but, by comparison, he emphasizes the magnitude of the work of the Spirit within the new covenant (2 Cor 3:7-9). If God bestowed great honor upon the Torah, which was not able to produce life, then he gives even greater honor to the Spirit who transforms God's people from death to life.
Although God reveals his holy standard through the Torah, he empowers his people to live according to his holy standard through the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:9-10; Rom 8:3-4). By the Spirit, God is in the process of continually transforming his people into his likeness (2 Cor 3:18).
Application
As we know the sacrifice of God's Lamb once and for all ended more than half of the required Shavuot observance through sacrifice but there is still much significance for us today as believers.
The celebration of Shavuot is mainly a time to be thankful for God’s provision. Shavuot, after all, was in part established to celebrate the wheat "harvest". We can also remember and celebrate the giving of both covenants, and of the written Word and the Spirit of God.
My prayer for you is that the LORD would impart to you a spirit of thanksgiving for all of His harvest provision in your own life, and moreover His Law and His Spirit.
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Again I hope you're blessed by this study. This is just the tip of the iceberg. I encourage you to Be Like The Bereans and search the scriptures to see if what I'm saying is true. I assure you that if you do so with with a "noble character" and "great eagerness"... God will impart to you the gift of faith you need to believe His word.
Shalom!
1 comments:
Da Sciple, Great post brotha!!You broke it down crystal clear sir! The significance of Shavuot is so dope for the believer. May we all "Baruch Hashem" for the giving of his Torah, and his Spirit!!
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