BIBLE STUDY-PENTECOST-FRESH FIRE MAY 5-29-2020

READ THE BIBLE WITH AMANDA GRACE

Acts Chapter 1 and 2 and Leviticus 23:

• Three Pilgrim holy days in the Bible.
• First Spring Passover.
• Second beginning of Summer Shavuot- Leviticus 23.
• Third Fall tabernacles.
• Seven (7) sabbaths shall be completed count 50 days to the end of the sabbath offer a new grain offering.
• First fruits of the Lord.

When you take the Passover in exodus and you count to the feast of Shavuot, Moses is going up the mountain to receive the law, later on this became the celebration of the law and the giving of the covenant from God.

When God gave the power of the new covenant the Spirit of God it was on the same exact day that they were celebrating the giving of the old covenant. God gave the Torah and the 10 commandments on the same day that God gave the spirit of God, the Holy Spirit. Shavuot translated into Greek, because the new testament is written in Greek and begins with the book of Acts, it becomes Pentecost.

Shavuot is the feast of the harvest where they would go out during the summer and reap the harvest that the land had produced, so this is about the people going out to collect and work the harvest 2000 years ago when Pentecost occurred and the Holy Spirit arrived on the earth and the 120 in that upper room, including the disciples received the spirit and spoke in tongues, what happens next? The same as Shavuot, they are SENT OUT, instead of harvesting crops, they are now harvesting something much more precious, souls for the Lord! Salvation! We are saved today because of what happened at Pentecost, this truly started it all as far as the harvest bringing those into the Kingdom of God.

Now what would happen during the feast of Shavuot is they would bring before the Lord the first fruits of the summer harvest, 2 loaves of bread, the harvest of crops and they would offer it to the Lord, it was declared Holy. And because this was the first fruits, this was dedicated unto the Lord, anything else they would reap during the summer harvest was now considered holy!

Now before Pentecost, the Lord does something incredible, he offers His first, His firstborn, his one and Only Son, yes he was the spotless lamb but He was also the Lord’s first, His best, and Jesus, Yeshua died on Calvary, on Passover, shedding His blood, purchasing and redeeming us. This sets the stage now the PROMISE of a comforter comes forth after Jesus is raised from the dead AND ascends to heaven to be seated at the right hand of the Father. Jesus taking His seat, now RELEASES The Holy Spirit to come. You see Passover has to occur before First fruits can ever happen, so Jesus had to die and be raised FIRST because God is a God of order, and as it is written in Leviticus, the order of the feasts, so it must be fulfilled!

We need to understand the Jewish wedding to understand the profound significance of Pentecost. Now The price paid by the father of the groom to the father of the bride was called mohar.

The mohar was not always paid in cash. Sometimes it was paid in kind, or in service. The Mohar has to occur before a gift can be sent to the bride from the groom. Jesus, Yeshua dying on Calvary was the Mohar it was the PRICE for the bride. In Jesus paying the Price He paid the MOHAR.

The mohar was originally the purchase price of the bride, and it is therefore understandable why it was paid by the father of the groom to the father of the bride. The Mohar HAS TO be paid By The Father of the GROOM, Therefore the Lord God Almighty, Yahweh, paid the MOHAR, the price for us by sending his First Born son to die on Calvary, purchasing us with the shedding of His blood. What a price a priceless price the Lord did pay. Now that the Mohar had been paid the groom can now send a MATAN a Gift to the Bride which we will get into in a moment….2000 years ago, when the new harvest, the harvest of souls was about to begin, because the lord would not tell you to do anything that he himself would not do, the Lord thy God took his own first fruits, no this was not a harvest of crops, he took 120 people in that upper room and he poured out His spirit, and by that the Lord does what is done with the crops brought before Him at Shavuot, those 120 were declared HOLY unto the Lord, they stood in the place of everyone that was EVER going to come into salvation, just as those crops and bread brought before the Lord, represented ALL the harvest that would then occur during that season. And if they were declared Holy, the 120, then everyone, who came from all nations and received Yeshua as their Lord and savior would be Holy as well. This is WHY they all spoke in other tongues, because they represented ALL nations that would ever come into salvation, to the Kingdom of God, so if they, the 120 are declared Holy, then we as well are declared Holy because we are part of that Harvest. Shavuot/Pentecost, that day in Hebrew was called the day of the Matan. So what is Matan, and why is this so significant, well in order to understand Matan in a Jewish courtship to be married, you must understand the betrothal first.

After the couple had undergone - Mikveh hwqm (immersion), each separately, they would appear together under the Huppah - or canopy - and in public they would express their intention of becoming betrothed or engaged. From ancient times - the wedding canopy has been a symbol of a new household being planned -Psalms 19:5 & Joel 2:16. While under the Huppah the couple participated in a ceremony in which some items of value were exchanged - such as rings, and a cup of wine was shared to seal the betrothal vows. After the ceremony - the couple was considered to have entered into the betrothal agreement. This period was to last for one year. During this time the couple was considered married - yet did not have sexual relations - and continued to live separately until the end of the betrothal. We see this time of betrothal illustrated in the gospels as reflected in the lives of Yoseph and Miriam-Matthew 1:18-25.

The Matan or Bridal Gift
Following this betrothal ceremony the groom would return to his home to fulfill his obligations during the betrothal. But just prior to leaving he would give his wife to be a Matan or bridal gift, a pledge of his love for her. It's purpose was to be a reminder to his bride during their days of separation of his love for her, that he was thinking of her - and that he would return to receive her as his wife. Matan means gift (messianicfellowship.com)

This gift was meant to strengthen the assurance of the commitment but also to beautify her

Now how does this tie in well…2000 years ago The bridegroom, the Messiah is separated from us in Heaven, so what does he do? He sends a GIFT to his bride, us, and the GIFT is the Holy Spirit to ASSURE us that he is indeed coming for us, to strengthen us and reassure us during our period of separation, as Jesus Yeshua is seated at the right hand of the Father.

And what does this GIFT, this glorious gift of the Holy Spirit, well it is t encourage and assure us, to make us more beautiful in the sight of the Lord, and to let us truly know that even though we do not yet see God with our eyes he HAS NOT FORGOTTEN YOU, He is coming back for you, we are betrothed to God. So the unsaved, can be compared to a stalk of wheat, ripe, and ready to be harvested for the Kingdom, because people have to come to a place where they have ripened and are ready to receive the gospel, are ready to receive Yeshua, Jesus.

Now interestingly enough, this ties in so well, the HEAD of the wheat contains the kernels or the wheat seeds. That kernel has 3 parts, 3 parts, 1 kernel, they are 3 but they are one. Father, Son, Holy Spirit, they are 3 BUT they are 1. And each of these KERNELS have the potential to be planted and produce a greater harvest of wheat. Just as we have the seeds we have the potential already inborn in us to do mighty things for the Lord on this earth, producing a greater harvest. Now this blew my mind, the Holy Spirit said to me as I was putting this teaching together, “I want you to go look up how many Kernels are in a head of wheat. Guess how many?!!! 50!!

Leviticus 23:15-16 You shall count from the day after the Sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf (tied bundle of grain) of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete Sabbaths (seven full weeks). You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall present a new grain offering to the Lord. 

The number 50 is also the jubilee, the Shemitah year,[Jubilee is] the institution described in the book of Leviticus 25:8-24 where it is stated that a series of forty-nine years [was] to be counted (there is considerable uncertainty as to the date from when the counting is to begin, but traditionally it is from the creation of the world) and every fiftieth year declared a special year during which there was to be no agricultural work; all landed property was to revert to its original owner; and slaves were to be set free. The name Jubilee is from the Hebrew word yovel, “ram’s horn,” the year being so called because a ram’s horn was sounded when it was proclaimed Leviticus 25:9 Since this verse says: “[Proclaim liberty] throughout the land for all its inhabitants,”(myjewishlearnngcom).

Okay, so now back to Pentecost:

Matthew 9:36-38 When He saw the crowds, He was moved with compassion and pity for them, because they were dispirited and distressed, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is [indeed] plentiful, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.” The feast of trumpets comes next to be fulfilled, BUT right now we are in the harvest. This is the great harvest!

We all must be spreading the gospel and harvesting now is the time. And in the midst of what we see happening around the world and in the covenant nations of Israel and the United States of America, we as the laborers need to be out declaring the gospel, teaching the word, walking out our faith (which can be one of the greatest witnesses to a non believer). Right now when you see so much uncertainty, you may see churches closed HOWEVER the laborers are not closed, we have a voice, we have a mission, OCCUPY until His return. So this stalk of wheat represents those who need salvation and it is an enormous harvest right now. And a harvest like this will bring forth revival!

And the priest, the rabbi during first fruits would first lift up the 2 loaves, now there is something interesting about these 2 loves, 2 halves make a whole, we have 2 types of people, we have the firstborn Israel, and we have the Gentiles. 2 loaves, Jew and Gentile on this earth before the Lord. And here we have the great Commission, Jesus was leaving to take His rightful seat at the Right hand of the Father, but he was sending His anointing, the Holy Spirit upon His people.

What happened before Jesus went out and started in Ministry?

Matthew 3:13-17 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan [River], to be baptized by him. But John tried to prevent Him [vigorously protesting], saying, “It is I who need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?” But Jesus replied to him, “Permit it just now; for this is the fitting way for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John permitted [it and baptized] Him. After Jesus was baptized, He came up immediately out of the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he (John) saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him (Jesus), and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased and delighted!”

What happens? The SPIRIT OF THE LORD, THE HOLY SPIRIT, descends upon Jesus in the likeness of a dove and ANOINTS Him, and THEN He is commissioned to go out and work the Harvest, ministering to the people. So in a way this is like a first fruits. The FIRST BORN Son comes and presents Himself as the offering before the Lord and is ANOINTED BY the HOLY SPIRIT, and then COMMISSIONED to go out and minister. Likewise the 120 in that upper room first presented themselves before the Lord, then the Holy Spirit, the Matan, the gift as sent and anointed the people, and then they were commissioned to now go forth into the great harvest and bring souls into the Kingdom of God.

Now where is the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament? Because the Old testament, all the events was and is the foundation for the New Testament. Rabbi’s actually came up with the word Pentecost, they translated from the Greek and called this event Pentecost.

What Did King David Himself say?

Psalm 51:10-11 Create in me a clean heart, O God,And renew a right and steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. There He is in the old testament, the Holy Spirit!

If we go back to the Very Beginning of the Bible:

Genesis 1:1-2 In the beginning God (Elohim) created [by forming from nothing] the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void or a waste and emptiness, and darkness was upon the face of the deep [primeval ocean that covered the unformed earth]. The Spirit of God was moving (hovering, brooding) over the face of the waters.

So, right out of the gate at the very beginning of Creation you have the SPIRIT OF GOD spoken of, mentioned! The RUACH ADONAI The Spirit of God!! RUACH the wind, the Holy Breath, the Spirit And the RUACH was hovering upon the waters there was darkness there was nothing BUT the RUACH ADONAI.

In the Word of God from the VERY BEGINNING we see when the Lord is about to do something significant, something that shifts and changes things as we know it, you will see the Spirit of God hovering over it.

Now let us take this to the new testament for a moment because the new and old testament is knit together like a quilt it all goes together, it is interwoven. Let me take you to the tomb of Jesus, Yeshua for a moment we see Genesis 1 repeated in that tomb. What happens?

Luke 24:1-4 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, the women went to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared [to finish anointing the body]. And they found the [large, circular] stone rolled back from the tomb, but when they went inside, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed and wondering about this, suddenly, two men in dazzling clothing stood near them; and as the women were terrified and were bowing their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why are you looking for the living One among the dead?  He is not here, but has risen. 

This is Genesis 1! On the FIRST DAY of the week there was darkness in the tomb, Jesus had been buried, and what happens, the RUACH ADONAI, the Spirit of God comes and HOVERS over the body of Jesus in the darkness of that tomb, and what happens next there was light the light of God, the power of God, speaks into the lifeless body of Yeshua and raises him from the dead! Now let us go back to the Old Testament where we see the Ruach Adonai manifest.

Numbers 11:11-12“Why have You been so hard on Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have placed the burden of all these people on me? Was it I who conceived all these people? Was it I who brought them forth, that You should say to me, Carry them in your arms as a nurse carries the nursing infant, to the land which You swore to their fathers’? Yes, Moses is tired he is 80 years old at this point hearing the complaints of 2,000,000 people!!! So yes He goes to the Lord and complains, he is tired, he is

with the people BUT He wants to help Moses, his faithful Servant, so this is what the Lord does.

Numbers 11:24-25 So Moses went out and spoke to the people the words of the Lord, and he gathered seventy men from among the elders of the people and stationed them around the Tent (tabernacle).  Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him; and He took some of the Spirit who was upon Moses and put Him upon the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied [praising God and declaring His will], but they did not do it again. The RUACH ADONAI The Spirit of God was taken and placed upon the 70 elders and immediately they begin to prophesy!

Acts 2:17-18 but this is (the beginning of) what was spoken of through the prophet Joel and it shall be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out My Spirit upon all mankind and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see (divinely prompted) visions, and your old men shall dream (divinely prompted) dreams. Even on my bond-servants, both men and women, I will in those days pour out my Spirit and they shall prophesy. 

So this event is a foreshadowing of Acts 2 the day of Pentecost! Because you see in order for the Holy Spirit to come upon the 120 in the upper room to sanctify them as Holy the stage has to be set in the Old Testament of The RUACH ADONAI coming upon the people and causing them to prophesy, so this is a Pentecost moment in the Old Testament! The Lord takes His Spirit RUACH ADONAI and puts it into the 70 elders in which they are compelled to prophesy! Now why again did the Lord do this? To EASE the burden of Moses because Moses was tired, he needed help, there were 2,000,000 in this harvest if we look at them each as a stalk of wheat.

See in our Flesh we get tired, we get heavy, we get over burdened, and the way the Lord eases that and helps us endure as we walk out our purpose is the he sends the RUACH HAKODESH, the Holy One, the Holy Spirit, to ease the burden to enable us to endure through what we NEVER could do of our own flesh and strength, that enables us to do great and mighty things beyond the confines of this natural realm.

Let's move to the book of Judges:

Judges 3:5-11 And the Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites; and they took their daughters for themselves as wives and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their [pagan] gods. And the Israelites did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the ^[a]Asheroth. So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of ^[b]Mesopotamia; and the Israelite's served Cushan-rishathaim eight years.

The First Judge Rescues Israel

But when the Israelites cried out to the Lord [for help], the Lord raised up a ^[c]man to rescue the people of Israel, ^[d]Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the Lord gave Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand, and he prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim.  And the land was at rest [from oppression for] forty years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

In the ITES syndrome because all the people that ended in ites inhabited this area and their leaven got into Israel’s loaves and they began to intermingle and intermarry with these pagan people. They gravely sinned against the Lord and what does he do, he removes His hand of protection and gives the over to Cushan-rishathaim King of Mesopotamia, and the Lord allowed them to be oppressed under His rule for 8 years.

And Israel begins to wake up a little, because when you choose to rebel and NOT go by the leading of the Spirit you become OPPRESSED, and they cry out to the Lord, and what does the lord do he raises up a Judge by the name Othniel and what happens? THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD, THE RUACH ADONAI, comes UPON HIM, so, hovers over him and he goes to war and defeats the Mespotamian King and rescues Israel. The Spirit is So powerful that once it comes upon somebody it is the great equalizer and the pagan nations who thought they had the upper hand cannot overpower whomever the Spirit is upon, they CANNOT WIN. So the Holy Spirit is given to us as well so we can go to war, so we can fight the enemy. There is proof of this in the New Testament.

2 Corinthians:4-5 For the weapons of our warfare are not ^[a]carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

The weapons of our warfare are NOT CARNAL BUT MIGHTY THROUGH GOD.Who is through God and the Holy Spirit!! The RUACH HAKODESH. He is a powerful and integral weapon of our warfare against the Kingdom of darkness! This is why he was sent by the Lord after Jesus Yeshua was raised from the dead and took Hid rightful seat at the right hand of the Father! God’s Spirit is WAY more powerful than Oppression, than any spirit that serves the kingdom of darkness. The Holy Spirit was sent so we could have VICTORY!

Luke 10:19 Listen carefully: I have given you authority [that you now possess] to tread on serpents and scorpions, and [the ability to exercise authority] over all the power of the enemy (Satan); and nothing will [in any way] harm you.Through the Holy Spirit, the Ruach Hakodesh we have AUTHORITY! The Hebrew Word for Tread or trample is DARAK, it means to tread, to MARCH! And when you march OVER something you are above it, you are moving forward and it cannot stop you, because it is being trampled, CRUSHED! DEFEATED!

The Spirit of the Lord compensates for the Flesh, and the deeper you go with the Lord in the Spirit, the less the enemy can lure you into carrying out the works of the Flesh! It overpowers the Flesh!

Judges 13 and 14 we see another example, Samson! Israel once again does evil in the site of the Lord and they are oppressed by the Philistines, so the Angel of the Lord appears to Manoah and His wife and say.

Judges 13:5 For behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a Nazirite [dedicated] to God from birth; and he shall begin to rescue Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”   

Judges 14 is where we see the arrival of the Spirit of God the RUACH ADONAI.

Judges 14:19-20 Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily, and he went down to Ashkelon and killed thirty of them and took their gear, and gave changes of clothes to those who had explained the riddle. And his anger burned, and he went up to his father’s house. But Samson’s wife was given to his companion who had been his friend.

Judges 15:14-15 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily, and the ropes on his arms were like flax (linen) that had been burned, and his bonds dropped off his hands.  He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, so he reached out his hand and took it and killed a thousand men with it. 

What happens when the RUACH ADONAI comes upon him in both instances? Samson as 1 man is able to over power easily 30 then 1000 philistines just he and the Spirit of God! Man in the Flesh, and the powers of darkness lose whatever advantage they have When the RUACH ADONAI comes upon and Hovers over that circumstances and a SHIFTING Occurs and suddenly things shift in the favor of the servant of the most High God!

So the Holy Spirit always causes a SHIFT!You see the Lord loves to take the most unlikely of people and raise them up to defy the odds and bring Glory to his name!

Now back to Acts 3 now the the Holy Spirit the RUACH HAKODESH is in them and the disciples go forth and Peter heals a lame beggar and His ability to walk is restored, and they begin to have the Holy Spirit now speak through them.

Acts 4:32-35  Now the company of believers was of one heart and soul, and not one [of them] claimed that anything belonging to him was [exclusively] his own, but everything was common property and for the use of all.  And with great ability and power the apostles were continuously testifying to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace [God’s remarkable loving kindness and favor and goodwill] rested richly upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, because those who were owners of land or houses were selling them, and bringing the proceeds of the sales and placing the money down at the apostles’ feet. Then it was distributed to each as anyone had need.

Because when the Holy Spirit is truly upon you, you are about your father’s business, you are seeking first the Kingdom of God and HIS righteousness ALL these things are added unto you, not some, ALL!

So another aspect of the Holy Spirit is he ensures as you are doing the will of the Father and putting your Father in Heaven first that whatever you need to do the job at hand it is provided. However, there must be hard work, dedication, staying the course as the disciples did for the Lord through the Holy Spirit to ensure provision was there!

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Em7whlAvwjk

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