Hello John and Doves,
For the last few years, I've
written letters about another way to count to the day of
Pentecost. My recent letters this year have covered
"the usual ways" but I included comments that not everyone
agrees with these"usual ways." Dr. Barry Awe, Luis
Vega, and others (including me) have talked or written
about another date for Pentecost. The New Wine
Festival. (Although we differ as to when the New
Wine Festival is. Luis had two letters to Doves last
week about this Festival.)
What got me asking questions a
few years ago about the traditional way we 'get to' the
day of Pentecost
each year, was what Luke wrote
about the men accusing the "Holy Spirit filled Galileans"
of being drunk. Luke wrote, "But others mocked them and
said, "They are drunk on NEW wine."
Acts 2:13. How can NEW wine be available to anyone
in that area of the world in May? The grapes are not
harvested until June at the earliest. Once the
grapes are harvested and the juice stored in new wine
skins/jars then fermentation can take place...that takes a
while. So one can not get drunk on 'new' wine.
This shows that a Pentecost in May is way too early!
And the traditional counting to
Ascension Day has come into question also:
In one of my recent letters about
Ascension Day, I wrote about the counting of the 40
days...In Acts 1:3 it says that Jesus was with them over a
span of forty days. Even Dr. Awe covers this - we're
not sure when to start counting these 40 days. There
were gaps given in the gospel for Jesus' appearances after
He was resurrected - John 20 and 21. The traditional
way of counting starts with Jesus' resurrection plus 40
days. But is this accurate? Maybe not when
considering John 20/21!
In this recent letter to Doves,
14 May, I wrote about Acts 1:12 - how those who witnessed
Jesus' ascension were a "Sabbath day's Journey" from
Jerusalem. This was important for Luke to include in
his message because it was Jewish Law that on a Shabbat OR
a High Holy Day/Feast Day - Jews were limited in how far
they could travel. So "Ascension Day" was either on
a Shabbat or the next Feast Day - the next Feast Day was
Shavuot/Feast of Weeks/Firstfruits. Dr. Awe believes
Ascension Day is Shavuot - which could absolutely be
correct given the above information to back it up.
Also, all through Acts, Luke tells us "this happened on a
Sabbath day", "that happened on a Sabbath day"....several
times he specifically mentions Sabbath days - yet, on
Ascension Day he does not write "this happened on a
Sabbath day". That's another clue that Ascension Day
was not on Shabbat...that it was indeed on a High Holy Day
and that would have been Shavuot.
Ascension
Day 2023
AScension Day was on
Shavuot/Feast of Weeks of a Sabbath day
Also, the "offering of NEW grain
to the Lord" at Pentecost is the wheat offering. It
takes spring wheat about 115 days to mature...June is too
early for the spring wheat harvest/offering. Spring
wheat, planted in March/April, would be harvested in July
at the earliest (not June)...this is about a 4 month time
for planting to harvest. Leviticus 23:17 at
the Festival of Weeks/Firstfruits: "...bring two
loaves...as a wave offering of fristfruits to the
Lord." This is the first of the wheat
harvest...before anyone else can eat of the wheat
harvest...the firstfruits are brought before the Lord.
Remember Jesus reminded the
disciples of the saying..."there are yet four months, then
comes the harvest." John 4:35.
Leviticus 23:16 says they are to
give a NEW grain offering to the Lord - there were two
wheat harvests in Israel - one from the wheat that was
planted in the fall (the traditional or old grain) and one
from the wheat planted in the Spring (the NEW
grain). This new grain is harvested in July at the
earliest. This is the one that the Lord wants.
Dr. Barry Awe Ascension
Day and Pentecost Day Studies:
Dr. Barry Awe has a three part
presentation "Rapture 7 Years Before 2030 Messiah".
In this he explains that the 15th day of the third month
is Shavuot. And Ascension Day is Shavuot.
He refers to John 20 and John 21 for help with the 'forty
days' - that's it's not that simple to just count 40 days
from Jesus' resurrection. And that Pentecost
is at the Feast of New Wine on 9 Av.
run time 1:05:30
run time 1:29:03
Part 3 isn't posted as of 5/23.
The Temple Scroll
The Temple Scroll of the Dead Sea
Scrolls (some believe the Essenes authored the Dead Sea
Scrolls) tells us about three bikkurim (firstfruit)
festivals - wheat, wine and oil.
According to the Temple Scroll:
The Wheat Festival is on 15
Sivan.
The New Wine Festival is on 3
Av. (Dr. Awe says this is 9 Av)
The New Oil Festival is on 22
Elul.
These are FIRSTFRUITS festivals
where the first of the harvests are brought to the Temple
and offered before the Lord. So on 3 Av, the New
Wine Festival, the new wine would have been brought to the
Temple. So no one could drink the new juice (the new
wine) until after the new wine was offered to the
Lord. So Pentecost could not take place before 3
Av. If Pentecost did take place on the New Wine
Festival - on this very day the new wine was being
presented to the Lord - so no one could be drinking it
until after this presentation by the High Priest. (Dr. Awe
believes 9 Av is Pentecost.)
The New Wine Festival in the
Temple Scroll is on the 3rd day of the 5th month
The Three Bikkurim's of
the Lord:
In the Bible we often
read about the wheat (grain), the wine (grapes), the oil
(olives) - all referenced together. That the Lord
blessed Israel with all three of these. "In
Deuteronomy, God promises that if the Iraelites keep the
commandments, they will gather "grain, wine and
oil". Similarly, when biblical texts wish to
describe the plenty of the land, they reference its
"grain, wine and oil" and when they want to threaten
that it will be destroyed and made barren, they describe
the loss of "grain, wine and oil."
The
Three Shavuot Festivals of Qumran: Wheat, Wine, and
Oil - TheTorah.com
Pentecost as Shavuot as the New
Wine Festival would have better timing later in summer as
these Three Firstfruit Festivals (Wheat, Wine, Oil) which
are all 50 days apart - "seven weeks" - end only
three days before the first of the seventh month - Feast
of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah). If the Tribulation
Period is to start with the Fall Feasts - then the Wheat
Festival, the New Wine Festival, the New Oil Festival will
all be complete.
Using the chabad calendar or the
torah calendar:
This year, 15 Sivan is June 3/4.
This year, 3 Av is July
20/21. And 9 Av (Tishah B'Av) is July 26/27
This year, 22 Elul is September
7/8.
This year, Rosh Hashanah is
September 15/16.
IF this is correct, the Rapture
could be on 15 Sivan/Shavuot/Ascension Day. - June
3/4. The Essene's day and Dr. Barry Awe's day (he
doesn't mention the Essenes - as I recall) or New Wine
Festival, 3 Av or 9 Av could be the correct time of
Pentecost.
Just a couple more Rapture
possibilities on specific days.
It just seems crazy that the
Jewish calendar has been so 'lost' - and we have to try
and figure out so many aspects of their calendar!!
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!
Maranatha!