Sermon 6-8-25

Pastor Ray Lorthioir

Trinity Lutheran Church

W. Hempstead, NY

Pentecost Sunday

Repurposed Jewish Festivals

Torah commands all Jewish males from everywhere in the world to appear before Yahweh for three festivals during the year. These are Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. The place to appear before Yahweh was at His temple in Jerusalem. That temple has not existed since 70A.D. But the temple was there in Jesus’ day. And many Jews were obedient to the command.

In all four gospels we read that Jesus revealed Himself publicly as Messiah when He went up to Jerusalem publicly for the feast of Passover at the end of His ministry. As He approached the city He was acclaimed by the crowds of pilgrims traveling with Him. This was the event we know as Palm Sunday.

Later that week, Jesus was publicly executed. The Jews who had come to Jerusalem from every nation on earth for Passover in obedience to Torah’s command saw Jesus’ execution. Three days later public news went out that the tomb Jesus’ body had been laid in was empty. Public rumors were started that Jesus’ disciples had stolen His body. Other rumors maintained that Jesus was appearing alive in a resurrected body in private audiences with select groups of His disciples.

In Torah, Yahweh commands Israel to observe a week long festival immediately after Passover. It’s known as the Week of Unleavened Bread. For a week, no observant Jew is to eat anything with yeast in it. Because the Jewish calendar is a lunar calendar that follows the phases of the moon, Passover and the Week of Unleavened Bread can start on any day of the week. And because it’s a week long festival, what we know as a Sunday always falls somewhere within that week. Torah commands that there should be a special offering on the Sunday that falls within the Week of Unleavened Bread. It’s to be an offering of the first fruits of the harvest of whatever grains ripen the earliest.

Torah also commands that Israel needs to count off fifty days beginning with that Sunday in the Week of Unleavened Bread. The fiftieth day will also be a Sunday. It’s the Day of Pentecost. And on it Israel is commanded to celebrate a second harvest festival. The first fruits of whatever grains ripen at that point in the season are to be presented to the Lord.

Please notice the use of the word “firstfruits” in what St. Paul writes concerning Jesus’ resurrection in 1Corinthians 15:20-23, “20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.”

Now, compare this text with the commands in Leviticus regarding the offering to be given on the Sunday (the day after the Sabbath) in the Week of Unleavened bread. Again, notice the use of the word “firstfruits.” We read in Leviticus 23:9-11, “9 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 10 ‘Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest, 11 and he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.” The day after the Sabbath is Sunday.

Comparing the two passages, we can see why St. Paul uses the word “firstfruits” regarding Jesus’ resurrection. The Sunday in the Week of Unleavened Bread is a harvest festival. Firstfruits of the harvest are brought as an offering unto the Lord. Jesus was raised from the dead on Sunday in the Week of Unleavened Bread. For this reason He is called the “firstfruits” from the dead.

Indeed, the Lord is going to “harvest” from the dead the resurrected bodies of all His saints on the Day of Jesus’ return. If we’re in Christ, we’ll be part of that harvest. But, until then, only Jesus has been resurrected as the firstfruits of that harvest.

And there’s more. Again, notice the use of the word, “firstfruits” in Leviticus 23:15-17, “15 ‘You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath [Sunday], from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering. 16 You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a grain offering of new grain to the LORD. 17 You shall bring from your dwelling places two loaves of bread to be waved, made of two tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour, and they shall be baked with leaven, as firstfruits to the LORD.”

The fiftieth day is the Day of Pentecost. It’s a harvest festival with an offering of firstfruits. Now, concerning that day in 33A.D., we read in Acts 2:41, “So those who received his word [Peter’s sermon] were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.” These 3,000 were the firstfruits of the harvest unto the Lord of Messiah’s Church. And there’s been a tremendous, ongoing harvest ever since. So, do you see how Yahweh planned the firstfruits festivals He originally gave to Israel so that He could repurpose them as firstfruits festivals for Messiah’s Church? Jesus was resurrected as the firstfruits from the dead on the Sunday in the Week of Unleavened bread. Fifty days later the first 3,000 believers became the firstfruits of Christ’s Church on the Day of Pentecost.

Now, concerning the third and final harvest festival in the Fall — the Feast of Tabernacles. If you remember from Lent, we looked at a temptation Satan threw at Jesus through Jesus’ family. In John 7 it’s written that Jesus’ brothers urged Him to go up to Jerusalem and reveal Himself as the victorious Messiah at the feast of Tabernacles. Jesus refused to go off script by doing so. Instead, He revealed Himself just before Passover on Palm Sunday. However, the John 7 incident reveals the Jewish tradition that Messiah will reveal Himself victoriously at Tabernacles. Therefore, I suspect that having repurposed the first two harvest festivals, Yahweh will also repurpose the third — Tabernacles. It would be fitting if Jesus returned during Tabernacles some year for the final harvest of raising the dead to eternal life. This is my suspicion. Maybe I’m right.

Now, Jews from all over the known world had made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for Passover in the year Jesus was crucified. Travel in those days was lengthy and difficult. Therefore, it only made sense for them to stay in Jerusalem for fifty days to observe Pentecost. No doubt, then, on the Day of Pentecost that year, there were many Jewish men in Jerusalem from all over the world who had seen Jesus publicly crucified at Passover. It was these men from all over the world who were brought together by the sound of the mighty rushing wind only to find a group of Galileans publicly proclaiming the wonders of Yahweh in the various languages these men from all over the world had learned on their mothers’ laps. Confused by the whole scenario, they began to ask one another “what does this mean?” One man among the Galileans stood up and explained to these men what they were seeing. It was the Apostle Peter. And so, the very first sermon about a suffering Messiah victoriously resurrected from the dead and ascended to the right hand of God was preached that Day of Pentecost.

Here, we might ask how Peter himself knew what was going on. The answer goes back to Easter evening. We read in John 20:19-22, “19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.’ 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” The key is these words: “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

Comparing the same incident on the same evening with Luke’s narrative, we find this in Luke 24:44-47, “44  Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.’”

How did Jesus open their minds to finally understand Messiah’s life-script written in Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms? Combining Luke and John, we see that He breathed the Holy Spirit on them. And to this day the power of Lord Holy Spirit is the only way for anyone to see, know and understand Messiah’s life-script written in Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms. The Spirit is the only way for you to see it. He’s the only way for me to see it. Without the Spirit anyone reading Messiah’s life script remains totally blind to it. For this reason, the long line of rabbis going all the way back to the time of Jesus’ is blind to Messiah’s life-script. They are deliberately blind and take pride in their blindness because it closes the door on Jesus.

But Jesus got around the problem by creating a whole new line of rabbis able to see and properly proclaim the suffering and victorious Messiah from the pages of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms. Jesus did this by first breathing Lord Holy Spirit upon the apostles. Therefore, it was the Holy Spirit who gave Peter the extensive knowledge of Messiah’s life-script that he used when he preached on Pentecost. This included what is found in Joel 2:28-32, Psalm 16:8-11 and Psalm 110:1

As we’ve noted, because of the schedule of festivals, there were probably many people who heard Peter’s sermon on the Day of Pentecost who had also seen Jesus crucified seven weeks earlier. Therefore, it really hit home when Peter preached at the beginning of his sermon in Acts 2:22-23, “22 ‘Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know — 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.’” Some of these men who were listening to Peter may have been part of the crowd demanding Jesus’ death before Pontius Pilate. Their cries had caused Jesus to be turned over to Roman soldiers for crucifixion — Gentile soldiers who did not acknowledge Yahweh or His Law. Thus, Peter described them as “lawless men.” The Romans did the dirty work. But, it was the Jewish leadership and men in the crowd Peter was addressing who had condemned Jesus to death.

The only grace in Peter’s harsh statement was that all this had happened by the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. Peter knew this because Jesus had opened the life-script of Messiah to the minds of the apostles by the Holy Spirit on Easter evening. Nevertheless, the people Peter was addressing in the sermon had sinned greatly. They had assassinated the Son of God. They needed to repent, repent, repent!

But then Peter preached Good News. Despite the assassination, the Son of God was rescued from death by Yahweh Himself. Again it was by the definite plan and foreknowledge of Yahweh. So we read in Acts 2:24-32, “24 ‘God raised him [Jesus] up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. 25 For David says concerning him, “I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; 26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. 27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. 28 You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.” 29 Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, 31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.’”

As we’ve seen, Peter quoted Psalm 16. He then made a most important point about properly interpreting that psalm. David could not have been talking about himself in that psalm. For, David died and his body has seen corruption. But David prophesied that someone would come whose body would not see corruption, even in the grave. Peter declared that Jesus of Nazareth had fulfilled that prediction. Peter declared that he and the others who had spoken in tongues that day were witnesses of Jesus’ bodily resurrection after he had been dead for three days. And Peter proclaimed that because Psalm 16 predicts that someone would come whose body would not see corruption, the Word of God written in Psalm 16 actually made it impossible for death to imprison Jesus in the grave. This is a tremendously important piece of Messiah’s life-script.

Finally, Peter preached in Acts 2:33-36, “33 ‘Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he [Jesus] has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. 34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand, 35 until I make your enemies your footstool.’” 36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.’”

Here Peter quoted Psalm 110:1. Again, he made a most important point about interpreting it. David could not have been talking about himself in that psalm. For, David never ascended into heaven. On the other hand, Peter and the other witnesses had seen Jesus ascend.

Then, Peter concluded by repeating the accusation — some of his hearers were among the rabble who had clamored for Jesus’ crucifixion. At the least, everyone present had seen or heard of the horrible thing that was done to Messiah by their leaders. 

And let’s strongly note what the leadership had done. They had grasped at equality with God by trying to kill God, the Son. Their actions were in accord with Satan’s rebellion and Adam’s Original Sin — trying to overthrow Yahweh and make gods of themselves. Same old. Same old. This is the very thing Jesus came to overthrow by NOT counting equality with God a thing to be grasped. And we know Jesus succeeded in His task because Yahweh rewarded Him with bodily resurrection from the dead. Therefore, through the New Birth that Jesus won for us through the forgiveness of sins, a tremendous counter-revolution against Satan has been underway for the last 2,000 years. This forgiveness was even extended to those who repented of assassinating the Son of God.

Now, rightly pouring guilt for Messiah’s assassination on the crowd had a strong effect. Thus, we read in Acts 2:37, “Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’” We desperately need to ask the same question, for all of us are equally guilty of grasping at equality with God through Original Sin. Lord, what shall we do? And if you’re not desperate about this, you haven’t yet heard the condemnation Yahweh’s Law pours out against you.

So, down to us comes the powerful answer to the desperate cry of Peter’s hearers. We read in Acts 2:38-41, “38 And Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.’ 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this crooked generation.’ 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.”

Save yourselves from this crooked generation! If you don’t, you will be rightly sentenced to be totally crooked in an eternity of total crookedness with all the eternal grief total evil will bring. Therefore, Repent! Renounce rebellion! Submit to Yahweh, your totally righteous Creator. Be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Receive the gift of Lord Holy Spirit so that you may not only believe Yahweh’s Truth but begin to live Yahweh’s Truth. Let the Spirit straighten your crooked ways and your crooked heart. That’s what Lord Holy Spirit was sent to you for.

Brothers and sisters, Messiah’s holy Church is on the playing field now for the final quarter of the game until Jesus returns. We’re still in the stands as spectators of what only Jesus could do for us. But we’re also on the field as Jesus applies the salvation He has won to us.

On the field in these final minutes of the fourth quarter, we’re at a tremendous disadvantage because of the sinful nature we’re born with. But this means that the victory of Messiah is all the greater as He works His righteousness in us, in spite of our sinful nature. We’re at a disadvantage because the devil and His world system hate anyone who has repented of grasping at equality with God. The devil and the world cause mocking, suffering and persecution — even death — for those who call on the Name of Jesus. But again, this means that the victory of Messiah is all the greater as He pours out His Holy Spirit upon us, keeping us loyal to Him in spite of the persecution — giving us the same Holy Spirit courage in the face of death that He gave the apostles and the first believers.

Jesus said in John 16:13-15, “13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

Lord Holy Spirit has done precisely this. The apostles and evangelists listened to the Spirit and produced what we call the New Testament. And to this day only those with the Holy Spirit are able to properly believe what Lord Holy Spirit caused to be written by Moses, the Prophets, the Evangelists and the Apostles. Therefore, come Holy Spirit, that in seeing we may see and believe; and in hearing we may understand and produce the fruit of your righteousness. Amen.

All Bible quotes are from the ESV.