My thoughts on timing, part 3 (re: Pentecost)

I want to express some thoughts on Pentecost, its prophetic significance as one of the three main feasts-seasons given to Israel, and how I think God wants us to determine its timing. In the prior parts I presented that Pentecost will fall on August 26th this year (according to what I believe to be the accurate biblical calender wherein this year a "leap" month was to be added), and that this upcoming fulfillment of Pentecost as a prophetic type/shadow will only relate to the 144,000 Jewish witnesses, and not to the body of Christ. We will be gone before then, in my speculation/anticipation.

Many Christians determine Pentecost by a count of 50 days that overlaps a count of 7 weeks. This popular belief is based upon the common English translation of Levitcus 3:15-16 and tradition. This way of counting is also done by many Jews. However, I started to question this understanding when I considered the following:

I observe in Acts 2:13 that some scoffers in the crowd, hearing "unknown to them" differing languages from the 120 followers of Jesus (see 1:15), asserted that the followers were drunk on new wine since it sounded like a bunch of babbling to them. However, grapes harvested for wine would not be ripe in May, the month that traditional Pentecost was celebrated this year. This is one clue that the true Pentecost is not on a 50th day right after a count of 7 weeks after the Passover's First Fruits offering. Enough grapes would be ripe to make new wine if Pentecost is determined by adding a full 50 days after the 7 weeks.

Another thing I observed was that after Peter's message to the Jews gathered from many countries in Acts 2, the scriptures indicate that 3000 received the message of life about Jesus, and what He accomplished. Where had I come across a 3000 person group before?

When did this happen? After Moses had spent 40 days with God on Sinai, starting on or about the 19th/20th day of the 3rd month. If I add 40 days to the 19th/20th, I come to about the end of the forth month, when Moses came down from Sinai with the stone tablets. The end of the 4th month falls in the same window of time for Pentecost if I count off 7 weeks and then add 50 days.

Now, this year, the Jews just celebrated Pentecost (Shavuot) on May 20th. However, from what I understand, the 70 member Sanhedren in Israel disagrees with the popular Jewish calendar, as well as karaite jews because they use the first sliver of the sighted new to begin a month. This year this ended up shifting the date they determine Pentecost forward one week compared to the popular Jewish calendar. See an example of such a calendar here:

Keep in mind that they do the count of Pentecost by having the 50 days overlap with the 7 weeks. They assert that Pentecost should be May 27th, not May 20th. What I find interesting is that if I start the count of the 50 days on May 27th as these folks should have done then I arrive at July 15th, the day I am thinking the rapture will take place. July 15th should the Sanhedren's and karaite's Pentecost if they had done the count of days and weeks correctly.

I understand that at this point I may be confusing to some reading this. I have now presented in these emails two Pentecosts (adding 50 days to 7 weeks). The one above on July 15th, per the Sanhedren, if they had done the count correctly, and August 26th, per the accurate Biblical calendar.

The significance of the Sanhedren's properly-counted Pentecost, even though it is not biblically accurate in terms of when the new year and the new months are to start, is that it falls on the 18th day of the 3rd month of the true biblical calendar. I believe God is actually going to fulfill the accurate calendar while on the same date seem to fulfill the Sanhedren's Pentecost. He will take us home on a date where the two calendars dovetail. God will do this, in part, to provoke the 144,000 to jealousy. They will not recognize it as a fulfillment of the type/shadow of Moses and Mount Sinai, but will recognize it as a fulfillment of Pentecost.

I believe that at this season, God is allowing the Sanhedren to be the authority for the jewish calendar until the two witnesses arrive and set them straight. God will fulfill His calendar "timings" according to types/shadows. In terms of us going home, that will be according to the type/shadow of when God descended to the top of Mount Sinai, in a dense cloud, during a long, loud trumpet blast, calling Moses up in the sight of the observers, and with Moses then going up to meet God.

In terms of the Sanhedren's Pentecost, there will also be fulfillment of the traditions of the jews in how they celebrate Pentecost that allude to the rapture, while at this moment the rapture is unbeknownst to them. For example, an aspect to their ceremony is called "the decorating of the bride" (pointing to us being the true bride of Jesus). Another tradition is that some stay up all night because they believe that for a brief moment the heavens open and they will receive a blessing from God (possibly pointing to the moment the heavens indeed open as Jesus descends for us). Gary Stearman of Prophecy Watchers has some excellent teachings up on his Youtube channel that provide good detail on these traditional ways some Jews celebrate Pentecost, or Shavuot.

The reason I place weight on the 70 member Sanhedren as it relates to being the religious authority to Jews today is because this seems to be the way God wanted Israel governed under Moses. You see this even in the events at Mount Sinai in Exodus 24 where God also invites the 70 elders of Israel to accompany Moses, in one of his visits with God, and eat the covenant meal before God.

Now, going back to something I wrote in part 1, I do not believe a fulfillment of Pentecost this year on August 26th applies to the body of Christ, but to the 144,000 Jewish witnesses. Why not?

I understand that when the Holy Spirit came down and started indwelling those who had accepted Jesus in Acts 2, that this ultimately was to be a great blessing for the body of Christ. However, I do not believe that Acts 2 was when the church age started, and thus is not a valid timing clue for when the church age ends at the rapture.

I believe in Acts 2 Israel was being given a second opportunity to accept the Messiah as a nation. However, this kingdom of God on earth, centered on the Messiah Jesus, was once again rejected by Israel. This is evidenced by the stoning of Stephen. It is not until Acts 13:1-2 where the Holy Spirit tells the group meeting to set apart Paul and Barnabas for the work the Spirit wanted them to do, that the church-age started in an "embriotic" stage. I did a Greek word study on "set apart" and it means to completely cut-off or sever. Paul and Barnabus were to begin something new. I believe this is when the church age truly started, and was then fully in place at the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. In other words, Acts is a transition book, bringing to a close God's focusing on the nation of Israel for them to inherit the earth-based kingdom of God, to God focusing on the body of Christ who is to inherit the kingdom of God in the heavenly places (Eph 1:3).

Also, when I compare details of Pentecost when Moses came down from the mount, with details of Pentecost in Acts 2, I notice that the type/shadow theme of Pentecost is not only that it is a feast which marks a transition in terms of how God deals with and relates to Israel, but it also includes God's new message for the new dispensation. The rapture of the body of Christ will not include this second aspect and so, I believe, will not fulfill Pentecost, nor take place on its true timing.

In terms of the fulfillment of Pentecost including a new message/revelation from God for the new dispensation, Moses had the stone tablets along with all the information God gave him during those 40 days to present to the children of Israel. In Acts 2 the Holy Spirit gave the 120 disciples/followers the gift to be able to speak a message in different languages in order to communicate clearly about Jesus and His Salvation to Jews who had gathered from many surrounding nations to celebrate Pentecost in Jerusalem.

In my mind, the next fulfillment of Pentecost will focus on the 144,000 Jewish witnesses, at the transition from the church age to Israel's 70th week of Daniel, and these message-bearers will also likely be gifted by God to speak in different languages in order to communicate God's message of salvation during the judgement years.

The rapture of the body of Christ, in my thinking, does not fulfill the full theme of Pentecost. I believe the waving of the wheat loaves as a Firstfuits offering of wheat harvest (which requires the use of a device called a tribulum to break away the wheat grains' outer shell, or chaff, from the grain nut itself) will have fulfillment when these 144,000 are raptured to heaven in the middle of the judgement years. You see them in heaven in Revelation 14:1-5. Notice in verse 4 that they are called "first fruits".