Pentecost, In The Old And New Testaments
The Annual Festival Both Jews And Christians Keep
The Unique Annual Festival Of Pentecost
This short post is the first in a series about the annual festival of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was manifested with great power and signs to the first century church. (Acts 2:1-13) This great event is considered by all Christian churches to be the beginning of the New Testament Church.
Pentecost, however, has its roots in the Old Testament, and is just one of seven of God’s annual festivals (as explained in this previous post) that was kept by the Jews and Jesus, and all those converts to Christianity who were called to God after this great out-pouring of the Holy Spirit in the first century.
Pentecost in 2025 falls on June 1st.
If the seven annual Festivals of God are something that you have not come across before in scripture, please read this previous post which gives an introduction to their observance in both the New and Old Covenants.
While each of God’s annual festivals has some unique aspects, the Feast of Pentecost seems to have more unique features than all the others put together!
Count Fifty Days
Pentecost is unique in that we are told to “count fifty days” to determine this day, whereas every other festival has its specific day set in the Hebrew Calendar. For example, Passover is on the 14th Day of the first month, and the Feast of Trumpets is on the first day of the seventh month. Pentecost, however, is to be calculated, or counted, from the time that the first grain offering from the spring harvest was made to God:
And you shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall you number (count) fifty days; and you shall offer a new meat (grain) offering unto the LORD. You shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven; they are the first fruits unto the LORD. (Lev 23:15-17)
The sheaf of the wave offering mentioned here will be explained in some detail in future posts in this series. The “wave offering” is important as it is the event in the Holy Days from which Pentecost is counted.
How to determine this wave sheaf, and how to count these seven weeks, is hotly debated amongst Jews and Christians, and makes Pentecost perhaps the most controversial festival to determine exactly when it is to be kept. A simple method for how to determine the date for Pentecost will be addressed in future posts in this series.
You may have also noticed that this festival, in the above quote from Leviticus 23, is not called “Pentecost”. It’s not actually given any name except the day after the seventh sabbath. Indeed, this festival is not called “Pentecost” anywhere in the Old Testament, but it is called the Feast of Weeks, or the Feast of Harvest and the day of firstfruits in other scriptures: Exo 23:14-17, Exodus 34:22, Deut 16:10, Num 28:26
It’s not until the New Testament era that this feast is called Pentecost- which is a Greek term that means ‘fiftieth’, coming from the need to count fifty days from the beginning of the harvest. This lack of consistency in regarding what this feast’s name is to be called, is another unique (and somewhat confusing) feature of Pentecost!
Always On The First Day Of The Week
God’s calendar is structured with seven days, including the weekly Sabbath on the seventh day, as explained in this post. As will be explained in future posts, the annual Sabbath day of Pentecost is on the morrow after the seventh (weekly) sabbath, so it always occurs on the first day of the week, which we call Sunday today. We therefore have two Sabbath days of rest to emphasise the importance of this annual festival of God. This double rest is another unique aspect of Pentecost.
Pentecost also holds a central place in the Holy Day calendar, as it falls between the annual Spring festivals at the beginning of the year, and the later annual Autumn festivals.
It also has the central role in both the New and Old Covenants, as
On this day in the Old Covenant the Law of God was spoken by God in the form of the Ten Commandments, and
On this day in the New Covenant the Holy Spirit was given to help us understand and obey the Law.
Pentecost therefore links both the New and Old Covenants together, and demonstrates that the Law of God is the same in both Covenants, as has been explained in detail in this previous post.
Yet, as stated above, despite its centrality to both Covenants, this day floats around on the calendar, not being on any specific date of the month. This is why you need to ‘count’ fifty days to determine when it is.
Interestingly, we do know that Pentecost is always going to fall on the first day of the week, Sunday, but all the other Holy Days fall on various days of the week, while the date of the month they fall on is always the same.
So, while Pentecost is central, and always on the first day of the week, it is also a flexible day that we need to count to clarify exactly when it is to occur.
Unique Offerings
Another unique aspect of Pentecost is that it is the only festival in which a leavened offering (bread made with yeast) is commanded to be ceremonially waved to God. In comparison, leaven is expressly forbidden in all other festival bread offerings, but here it is specified … two wave loaves of two tenth deals (the quantity of flour): they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven; they are the first fruits unto the LORD.
It’s also unique in having these two grain offerings as baked bread. All other grain offerings are just flour, they are not baked loaves.
However, something that is not unique is that these two loaves are called the “first fruits unto the LORD”. This is not unique because the Wave Sheaf offering, mentioned just a few verses earlier in Leviticus, is also called the first fruits:
When you come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then you shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest unto the priest: And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. (Lev 23:10-11)
How can there be two first fruits? This will be explained in future posts in this series.
Unique Focus Of Pentecost
Given all these unique characteristics of Pentecost, we could also expect that in some way Pentecost’s symbolic meaning will be completely different from all other festivals. This is true, as the other festivals generally represent the various essential roles of Christ, (as explained here) Pentecost has the unique focus on those who are called by God, and our essential role in what we do to ensure our own salvation, as has been explained in previous posts, and which will be elaborated on in future posts in this series.