Hello Douglas H and Doves,Thank you for your letter. We are approaching the first of the fifth month - the month of Av. You note in your title, July 7th or August 4th. There's the rub. Which calendar/date is correct?There are several here on Doves who believe that the Feast of New Wine is the "true" Pentecost (or Acts Pentecost). There have been many, many letters about this over the last few years. Luis Vega had several last week even - and he's written about this for years. I appreciate all of these - and I appreciate reading about what others think of this as this is not 'the accepted' day of Acts Pentecost.And thank you for including the Temple Scroll information on the counting of days to the New Wine. This 'drink offering' feast day was very important. .Dr. Barry Awe said in one of his recent videos on this feast day that the High Priest offered the new wine offering (poured it out on the altar) at 9AM - "the third hour of the day" - the people could not drink the new wine until it had been offered to the Lord. Thus Paul saying - "these people are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning." Acts 2:15. The King James Bible translates this as "For these are not drunken, as you suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day." The people could not drink the new wine until after it had been presented to the Lord as a "drink offering". This offering is fermented - I had wrongly believed it was unfermented. The harvest of grapes in Israel occurs in later than Feast of Weeks/Shavuot/Jewish Pentecost.The Essenes had a New Wine Festival - it "came 50 days or seven weeks after Pentecost. They offered the new wine as a firstfruits offering to the Lord.
Harvest Seasons of Ancient Israel - GCI Archive
And Jesus said that he would not "drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God." Mark 14;25. He said 'new' - is that referring to the New Wine Feast? If we are raptured on that day - He would drink this in accordance with this feast day.There are several translations, like God's Word, and Good News Translation, that specifically translate this as "new wine". "I tell you, I will never again drink this wine until the day I drink the new wine with you in my Father's Kingdom." Matthew 26:29The Bible Hub shows the Greek word kaivov - "new" - it isn't 'anew' as is in some translations - it's 'a new' or 'new'. As in new wine. Meaning "new - as in respect to age'
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance: Greek 2537. καινός (kainos) -- new, fresh
Douglas H - thank you for connecting this to Paul - II Timothy 4:6 - where he said he was "poured out as a drink offering." Jesus said, at the Last Supper, "This cup, which is poured out for you, is the new covenant of My blood." Luke 22:20 (New American Standard Bible) "Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." Matthew 26:27-28 This was along with His telling us He would not drink the wine until 'He drank new wine with you in Heaven'.More references to the 'drink offering'. Jesus fulfilled the lamb offering, the first fruits grain offering, the drinking offering....AND thanks for bringing up Paul cutting "of one of his missionary journeys short so as to get back to Jerusalem by Pentecost per Acts 20:16." I had forgot that James Brownlow had a Doves letter last year where he looked at the distance Paul had to travel to get to Jerusalem by Pentecost...."proving that traditional Pentecost is NOT possible" - looks like more proof for 50 days later on Feast of New Wine. Good study by James! Makes sense.I have also wondered IF Paul was thinking Pentecost/Feast of New Wine would be the day of the dead raised "incorruptible and we shall be changed." He was very well educated in all things Torah/Jewish. He understood all of the Jewish feast days - AND he now had the knowledge given to him by the Holy Spirit. Was he trying to connect the dots like we are? Surely he too was looking for THE day - but it was not for him to experience the Rapture.I remember that Micah told us "Woe is me!" He went out to gather the summer fruit - at the gleaning of the vineyard - and the clusters were gone! "The godly man has perished/vanished/been snatched from the earth." Micah 7:2 So the Rapture is connected to after the harvesting of the grapes in Micah 7. The New Wine Festival, obviously, has already taken place. And the good men are gone.Thank you again for your letter. We are getting closer to these high watch dates.