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Sunday, May 23 2010Pentecost: Christ's First HarvestPentecost, also known as the Feast of First Fruits, the Feast of Weeks, or the Feast of Harvest, is one of the genuine Christian Holy Days (along with Passover, the Days of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles and the Eighth Day - see the Fact Finder question below for detailed studies for each of them; see also our Christian Holy Day Calendar which includes studies and Sermons). As with all of the other true Christian Holy Days, Pentecost has always been about Jesus Christ and Christian Living.
"15:20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. 15:21 For since by man came death [see What Happens When You Die?], by man came also the resurrection of the dead [see Resurrections]. 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive [see The Adam Family]. 15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming." (1 Corinthians 15:20-23 KJV) "Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at His coming" Pentecost originated after the Exodus when Christ led the people out after His Passover (see also 'Before Abraham Was, I AM').
"10:1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea [see Why Through The Sea?]; 10:2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 10:3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat; 10:4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ." (1 Corinthians 10:1-4 KJV) Pentecost's connection to Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread is evident in how the date of observing Pentecost is correctly determined i.e. counted 50 days (Pentecost in Greek means fifty count) from the day after the weekly Sabbath during the Days of Unleavened Bread - which means that Pentecost is observed on the first day of the week i.e. "seven sabbaths shall be complete ... unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days" (see below; listen to the Sermon Pentecost, A Day Of Reckoning to understand how to correctly count Pentecost).
"23:15 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: 23:16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD." (Leviticus 23:15-16 KJV) The "birthday of the Church" Pentecost (as some call it), was observed 50 days after the Sabbath-day resurrection of Jesus Christ (see The Day Of Christ's Resurrection), the "first of the first fruits (please carefully read all of the information that is available in the Fact Finder question below, as well as listen to the Sermon Pentecost, A Day Of Reckoning).
"2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2:2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 2:3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 2:4 And they were all filled with The Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues [see Do You Speak In Tongues?], as the Spirit gave them utterance." (Acts 2:1-4 KJV) As stated in the verse quote above, the Holy Spirit of God is what makes people truly Christian and it's the Holy Spirit of God that "conceives" God's children until the time when they will be truly "born again" (see Spiritual Conception and The Process Of Conversion).
"8:5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be [see Grace Into Licentiousness]. 8:8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." (Romans 8:5-9 KJV) Pentecost / the Feast of First Fruits celebrated the first harvest of the grain crop as a living Prophecy of the "first harvest" of humanity, the "first fruits of salvation" who will be "harvested" on the day of Christ's return (see When Will You Be Judged?; also Could Christ Return Tonight?):
"8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." (Romans 8:23 KJV)
Fact Finder: How are all of Christ's true Holy Days joined in a single process of salvation for humanity (Pentecost is Lesson 3 in the list below)?
This Day In History, May 23 1430: Joan of Arc was captured at Compiegne and handed over to the British. 1498: Girolamo Savonarola, Italian religious and political reformer, was hanged and burned at the stake. 1533: Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer declared Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon void, and his marriage to Anne Boleyn in January legal, a judgment that was condemned by the Vatican. 1618: The Thirty Years War began when, during a Bohemian revolt against the Hapsburg Emperor, three opponents of the Reformation are thrown through a window. The incident became known as the Defenestration of Prague. 1633: Samuel de Champlain was made the first governor of New France (North America). 1701: Scottish pirate Captain Kidd (William Kidd) was hanged at London's Execution Dock. 1873: The Canadian North West Mounted Police were established. They are known today as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. 1945: Heinrich Himmler, the head of the Nazi Gestapo, committed suicide after being captured by Allied forces. 1960: Fugitive nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann was captured by Israeli agents in Argentina. He was returned to Israel for trial where he was found guilty and hanged. His body was incinerated and the ashes dumped far out into the Mediterranean Sea. 1983: The first heart-lung transplant in Canada was performed, at University Hospital in London, Ontario. 1991: Israel began "Operation Solomon" - a 2 day airlift of 14,400 Ethiopian Jews out of Addis Ababa.
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