Pentecost

Question: How many days are between Passover and Pentecost?

Answer: To answer your question briefly I could say, “There are 52 days between Passover and Pentecost. Pentecost falls on the 50th day from the Firstfruits.” However, I believe the Lord had you ask this question for more than just this short answer. Besides, I am not known for my short answers, so that brief statement just would not do!

We are in-between Passover and Pentecost 2006 as I write this answer, and interestingly enough this year our calendar is just like it was the year Jesus was crucified and rose again. I would like to explain the word Pentecost and then Passover. Pentecost in Greek is: PENTĒKOSTOS. ” an adjective denoting fiftieth, is used as a noun, with ‘day’ understood, i.e., the fiftieth day after the Passover, counting from the second day of the Feast, Acts 2:1; 20:16; 1 Corinthians 16:8.” (VINE’S)

There is something very wonderful about these “The Feasts of the Lord.” Nisan (Abib) 14 (Jewish calendar) the day the Passover falls on speaks of redemption. Christ the Passover lamb has been slain for us on this very day. Nisan (Abib) 15, the day Unleavened Bread comes on speaks of sanctification. He (Jesus) was set apart. His body would not decay in the grave. Nisan (Abib) 16, is the day Firstfruits falls on, and it speaks of the resurrection of Christ. Death could not hold Him. On the third day Jesus rose triumphantly from the grave. We have a Bible study on this, it is called Four in one Gospel Part 2, if you would like to study this out further. Or you might want to look at the study I Dare You to Disprove the Resurrection of Christ.

Fifty days after Firstfruits you come to the day of Pentecost (Weeks/Shavuot). This was the day the Holy Spirit was poured out, and He inaugurated the Church Age. Do you see a pattern here? God has everything planned out to the last detail; this is because He is a sovereign God! Nothing takes Him by surprise!

At the very time some Jews were killing their Passover lambs, Jesus was dying on the cross for our sins: Jesus was crucified then the scripture says, “After this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took the body of Jesus.

And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So there they laid Jesus, because of the Jews’ Preparation Day, for the tomb was nearby.” (John 19:38-42)

The body of Jesus was in the grave for three days and three nights, but did not decay, as Jesus said. “But He answered and said to them, ‘An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.'” (Matthew 12:39-40) “For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will You allow your Holy One to see corruption.” (Psalm 16:10) The Feast of Unleavened Bread depicts the fact that the Lord’s body would not decay in the grave.

Then the resurrection took place on the Jewish Feast day of Firstfruits. “Also on the day of the Firstfruits, when you bring a new grain offering to the LORD at your Feast of Weeks, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work.” (Numbers 28:26) Jesus had arisen before the women came to the tomb. So at the very time of this Feast of Firstfruits was taking place Jesus was raising from the dead with others.

The graves were opened at the time Jesus died on the cross, but they did not come out of the graves until Jesus arose and took them with Him as Firstfruits from the dead: “Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after his resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.” (Matthew 27:51-53)

Between this last feast and the next one Jesus appeared to the disciples for forty days, then He went back to heaven, but promised them the Holy Spirit would be sent. Ten days later after they had been in the upper room the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost. So exactly 52 days from the Passover (Jesus death on the cross) until the first wave of souls were brought into the Church! There are no accidents with God! Do you trust Him with your soul?

“.to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, ‘which,’ He said, you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (Acts 1:3-5)

The next feast is the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost, and it celebrated the first harvest. So too this Feast has significance for us in the Church. It was the day the Holy Spirit was pored out on the Church and over three thousand people were saved, what a harvest! “.and the Feast of Harvest, the Firstfruits of your labors which you have sown in the field. (Exodus 23:16) They waited ten days for the Holy Spirit to come.

“When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.” (Acts 2:1-4; 2:40)

Thanks for the question,

Gary T. Panell

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