Beloved, the countdown to Shavuot, also called Pentecost, Feast of Weeks, and Feast of Latter-Firstfruits, has begun. All of Yahweh’s people are to make this count, as part of our duties of “watching.” We must be careful to count, and to arrive at the correct day of the Feast. Some may arrive at the Feast, and find that it is the wrong day, for the King will not be there on that day!
It does not seem difficult to count fifty days. But in order to arrive at the correct day, we must start the count on the correct day. Currently, there is confusion in the Camp, because of the confusion imposed by the Doctrines of Men. We must therefore learn to go to Scripture, in order to find the correct day to begin the count. Notice what the Scripture says:
10 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: 11 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. (Leviticus 23:10-11)
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: 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)
The fifty-day count is to begin at the day of the Wave Sheaf Offering, the day of Early Firstfruits, which occurs the day after the sabbath following Passover. The controversy has been over which sabbath is meant– the High Sabbath of Unleavened bread on the fifteenth– or the weekly sabbath. The answer, though, is simple, and is staring us in the face, as we gaze at Scripture! The correct solution to the puzzle, however, is only for those who acknowledge Yahshua’s resurrection! Notice the following passage:
20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. (1 Corinthians 15:20)
The Resurrection of Messiah actually occurred on the day of Firstfruits, marking Yahshua as a Firstfruit Offering, as part of the fulfillment of Yahweh’s purposes. For those who acknowledge Messiah’s Resurrection, it is easy to see that the sabbath referred to in the phrase “day after the sabbath” refers to the weekly sabbath, for it is the day after the weekly sabbath that is related to the Resurrection of Messiah.
Only those who do not acknowledge the Resurrection of Messiah refer to Nisan 16, the day after the High Sabbath of Unleavened Bread, as the start of the 50-day count. Who would this be, but the historical and current Pharisees? Yahshua warned us of those whose leavened “Doctrines of Men” continue to turn men from the Truth. The result of this Leaven is called “Sin.”
We must return to the unleavened teaching of Scripture alone (and not to early church fathers, or Josephus) to find the Living Truth! Only then will we arrive at the correct Feast Day– the day the King will be there!
