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Why Are We to Count to Pentecost?

by Laura Lee
(Copyright) by Laura Lee (Bismarck, North Dakota)
 
Pentecost
Pentecost means count fifty. Pentecost is also called the Feast of First Fruits and the Feast of Weeks. We are told in: Leviticus 23:15 to count to Pentecost.
 
Lev 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: 
 
When was the Wave Sheaf Offering?
Many believe that because we are told to count on the morrow after the sabbath, that this means the weekly sabbath. And, because we are to count, they understand that to mean there is no fixed date for Pentecost. The wave sheaf offering was always made on the day after Passover an annual Holy Day.
 
From Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_offering
Beginning on the second night of Passover, the 16th day of Nisan, Jews begin the practice of the Counting of the Omer, a nightly reminder of the approach of the holiday of Shavuot 50 days hence. Each night after the evening prayer service, men and women recite a special blessing and then enumerate the day of the Omer. On the first night, for example, they say, “Today is the first day in (or, to) the Omer”; on the second night, “Today is the second day in the Omer.” The counting also involves weeks; thus, the seventh day is commemorated, “Today is the seventh day, which is one week in the Omer.” The eighth day is marked, “Today is the eighth day, which is one week and one day in the Omer,” etc.
 
When the Temple stood in Jerusalem, a sheaf of new-cut barley was presented before the altar on the second day of Unleavened Bread.
 
Josephus writes
“On the second day of unleavened bread, that is to say the sixteenth, our people partake of the crops which they have reaped, and which have not been touched till then, and esteeming it right first to do homage to God, to whom they owe the abundance of these gifts, they offer to him the first-fruits of the barley in the following way. After parching and crushing the little sheaf of ears and purifying the barley for grinding, they bring to the altar an assaron for God, and, having flung a handful thereof on the altar, they leave the rest for the use of the priests. Thereafter all are permitted, publicly or individually, to begin harvest.”

Since the destruction of the Temple, this offering is brought in word rather than deed.
 
One explanation for the Counting of the Omer is that it shows the connection between Passover and Shavuot. The physical freedom that the Hebrews achieved at the Exodus from Egypt was only the beginning of a process that climaxed with the spiritual freedom they gained at the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Another explanation is that the newborn nation which emerged after the Exodus needed time to learn their new responsibilities vis-a-vis Torah and mitzvot before accepting God’s law. The distinction between the Omer offering—a measure of barley, typically animal fodder—and the Shavuot offering—two loaves of wheat bread, human food—symbolizes the transition process.
 
Special Events on Pentecost
There have been special events that happened on Pentecost. In the Old Testament it was the day the law was given:
 
#1–They arrived at Mount Sinai on Sivan 3. (Exd. 19:1)
#2–They had 2 days of preparation, Sivan 4 & 5. (Exd. 19:10)
#3–They were to be prepared for the 3rd day, Sivan 6, on which they received the law. (Exd. 19:15-16)
 
And in the New Testament it was when God’s Holy Spirit was given so that we now were able to know and to keep the law of God.
 
And on a future Pentecost, Christ will come to earth and gather the first fruits and take them to the marriage supper of the lamb. Even though Pentecost has a fixed date you still will not know which Pentecost or the hour that Christ arrives until He is here.
 
No National Disasters
Because that day will be Pentecost there won’t be any national disaster going on because two are in a car and the driver is taken away or a bus driver or train conductor is taken, and all the passengers are left. These national disasters and crashes won’t be happening because first Christ will gather those who are dead and then those who are alive will be changed after that and they will all go together to the marriage supper of the lamb. The ones who are yet alive will be taken from Pentecost services or gatherings on the Pentecost that God has told you to keep.
 
1Th 4:13  But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 1Th 4:14  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.1Th 4:15  For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 1Th 4:16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 1Th 4:17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 1Th 4:18  Wherefore comfort one another with these words. 
 
1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. 1Co 15:51  Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 1Co 15:52  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 1Co 15:53  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 1Co 15:54  So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 1Co 15:55  O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 1Co 15:56  The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 1Co 15:57  But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1Co 15:58  Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. 
 
For a clue as to when this happens, it says it happens at the last trumpet.
 
Parable of the Ten Virgins
This is what the parable of the ten virgins is all about. All the virgins were God’s people, but the five wise virgins used God’s Holy Spirit to Learn God’s Truth from the Bible. The five foolish virgins did not study very hard and could not tell when someone was handing them a line of blarney (they usually put their own twist on scripture rather than to take scripture for what it actually said).
 
I have been reading people’s ideas for a long time now due to this newsletter and I see the scriptures they are using for their doctrines, and they just do not say what people want them to say. People have a tendency to have an idea of what they believe and then they will search the Bible for scriptures to back up their ideas. What you really need to do is clear your mind and read and study what the Bible actually says.  
 
The Counterfeit Count
When we were children, some of us used to count down to Christmas. I no longer watch local news stations, so I don’t know if they still do this or not, but when I was a child, they used to put the countdown to Christmas on the news every day and then on Christmas eve they used radar or some other method to continue the lie of Christmas by showing Santa was on his way. The deal was that if you were good all year long you would get gifts. If you were bad, you would apparently either get nothing or a lump of coal.
 
I checked the internet before writing this and now days apparently parents, day care centers and schools have found other more elaborate but simple ways of teaching children to count to Christmas. I will mention a few here:
 
Draw a Santa’s head and put circles on the beard with numbers in them. The numbers represent the number of days you want to count. Then each day you paste a cotton ball on the highest number left until you run out of numbers with the next day being Christmas (sound familiar yet?).
Draw a nice picture of a pine tree and do a similar thing with this as you did with Santa’s head in one above, but this time you use colored tinsel balls, the kind you buy in pet stores for your cats. When you get to the last number, your tree is completely decorated, and the next day is Christmas.
The garland method can be done either way. You can make a garland with the number of days you plan to count down to and each day take a section off and throw it away. When you no longer have a garland, the next day is Christmas. You can do this garland in reverse by adding a section with each day of your count and when it is completed the next day is Christmas.   
 
These are good ways to make children believe the lies of Satan the Devil. If you will notice, Satan and Santa have the same letters they are just arranged differently. Santa has white hair and comes from the north pole. Santa knows when you have been good or bad. Santa gives gifts (rewards) for being good.
 
So here is the deal on counting to Pentecost and it is very simple. Pentecost is known as the Feast of First Fruits. It is the day of the first fruit resurrection. The day when Christ will return and gather his saints and take them to heaven to celebrate the marriage super of the lamb on the sea of glass.
 
We are children of the most high so the count to Pentecost has to do with anticipation of that day when we will become spirit beings and live with God the Father and Christ forever. Counting to Christmas is Satan’s counterfeit of the count to Pentecost. The count to Pentecost is really just a count. Christmas falls on the same day every year, December 25 and they still count to it every year. Pentecost is so much more important and the day it is kept will always be a fixed day when counting from the 16th of Nisan. Pentecost always falls on Sivan 6 of every year.
 
Conclusion
There is no magic in the count to Pentecost, just as children all around the world count to Christmas Day every year, we as God’s own children are told to count to Pentecost every year until Christ comes to get us. The count is in anticipation of Christ coming to get us and of us living with Christ forever.
 
Satan the deceiver has counterfeited the count to Pentecost, and you can tell it is a counterfeit in the following ways:
 
One count is in anticipation of Santa (Satan) and one count is in anticipation of Christ coming to get us for the marriage supper of the lamb.
One is to receive toys and gifts and one is for the gift of life with Christ forever.
With Christmas you get gifts if you are good and nothing or coal if you are naughty. If you have made yourself ready for the marriage supper of the lamb you will be in the first resurrection if not you won’t.
Santa (Satan) has white hair, and a white beard and Christ is described as having white hair.
Santa (Satan) comes from the north pole to deliver gifts and Christ resides in the north.
Children count to Christmas in anticipation of Santa (Satan) coming and God’s children count to Pentecost in anticipation of Christ coming to get them, to take them to the marriage supper of the lamb on the sea of glass.
The Christmas count is counted by days and weeks and the Pentecost count is counted by days and weeks.
 
The count to Pentecost is important if you are waiting to be changed from human flesh and blood into a spirit being that will rule with Christ in the world tomorrow. As a side note in regard to this, is that brides generally count the days and weeks to their wedding day if only done in their head or on their own personal calendar.
Iron Sharpening Iron
In regard to: Why Are We to Count to Pentecost?
Article by Laura Lee
Comments by Dwight Fleming (Oroville, California)
 
Very good job on your counting Pentecost article. You had it well laid out and easy to follow. No one would ever know that you were crunched for time. You do very good under pressure. What stood out most for me was your pointing out how Santa and Satan have the same letters. And not only in names but in other ways as well. The other thing that would be neat to know is how you came to see that Pentecost pictures the Resurrection with the marriage of the Lamb occurring in heaven. I know that others have also come to see this. How I came to see it many years ago is different from others. It is always interesting how the Holy Spirit uses different means to help us to see something similar.
 
Editor’s Note:
Christ comes to gather His first fruits at the last trump. When that happens, there are yet seven bowls of wrath to be dumped out onto the earth. It would clearly make sense that Christ would have a meeting of some sort after the Marriage Supper in order to tell everyone what their duties will be and to train them to those duties. Pentecost is called the Feast of First Fruits so that is the day that Christ will gather the first fruits and then they will return with Christ to fight the nations probably on Trumpets.
 
How did I come to see that the marriage supper of the lamb was to be held in Heaven on the Sea of Glass on Pentecost? When one puts out a newsletter, they read many things, not just our Bibles, but things on the internet, things in books and other people’s articles. I first saw it in an article by William P. Goff which we have not yet published. Then I again saw mention of it in one of your articles or something you sent to me. When you look at it in the Bible it is pretty clear that the first fruits first go to heaven and then come back to fight the nations with Christ.
 
You will have to dig but in a nutshell:
 
1.The two witnesses prophesy for 1260 days. Then the beast kills them, and they lay in the street for 3.5 days. Rev 11:3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
 
2. Shortly after the two witnesses ascend to heaven it says the second woe is past. Rev 11:13  And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven. Rev 11:14 The second woe is past; and behold, the third woe cometh quickly. 
 
3. There are four trumpets and three woe trumpets. The first four trumpets happen and then you have woe trumpet five followed by woe trumpet six and next woe trumpet seven sounds and Christ harvests the First Fruits. 1Co_15:52  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
 
4. After this you have the seven bowls of wrath being poured out on the earth. So, tribulation is not yet over at the point where Christ harvests His first fruits.
 
I hope I have the timeline correct but let me hear from others in regard to this if I don’t. Laura Lee
Iron Sharpening Iron
In regard to: Why Are We to Count to Pentecost?
Article by Laura Lee
Comments by Dwight Fleming (Oroville, California)
 
I very much enjoyed your comments in your “Editor’s Note” pertaining to how you came to see that Pentecost pictures the Resurrection.  This is the same as I see it.  I think some others have similar versions with a few variations.  But you and I see the same Timeline of events as you described.
 
To go a little further with the Seven Last Plagues which are poured out after the Resurrection, I have pondered what symbolic events they may be tied to.  Unlike the Seven Trumpets which form a four-three pattern which connects them to the same pattern formed by the Seven Annual Sabbaths beginning with the Feast of Trumpets, where do the Seven Last Plagues connect to?
 
“And when the Lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of God and for the testimony they had upheld.  And they cried out in a loud voice, ‘How long, O Lord, Holy and True, until You avenge our blood and judge those who dwell upon the earth?'” (Revelation 6:9-10).  “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints” (Psalm 116:15).
 
The Seven Last Plagues are filled with the wrath of God (See Revelation 15:7).  When the sixth plague is poured out, it is stated that this will lead to “the battle of that great day of God Almighty” (See Revelation 16:12-14).  This is also incorrectly called “the battle of Armageddon” as mentioned in verse 16.  The battle does not take place at Megiddo or “Hill of Megiddo” but at Jerusalem.  A large mass of troops will gather in the Jezreel Valley near Megiddo.  They will then march down to Jerusalem where “the battle of that great day of God Almighty” will take place on the Day of Atonement.
 
When we look at Leviticus 16 which describes symbolic events to be done on the Day of Atonement, it is interesting how Revelation 15 and 16 connect with those symbolic events.  Many think that the goat which is slain on the Day of Atonement represents Christ.  Some believe that both goats represent Christ.  There may be some parallels, but Christ will not be slain again on a future Day of Atonement.  What prophetic events does the Day of Atonement picture?
 
Everyone focuses on the two goats but overlooks the bullock.  A bullock has more value than a goat.  Is the blood of God’s saints of more value than the blood of a sinner?  Review again the scriptures quoted above to decide.  Does the slaying of this bullock for Aaron, the high priest, and his household picture the blood of the saints?  Christ’s blood is pictured by a lamb of the first year not a full-grown goat.  Christ will separate the sheep from the goats at the end of the age.  The goats go into the lake of fire.  (See Matthew 25:31-46).  You can keep the law as good or better than the Pharisees did, but if we fail to love others and do good as Christ did, then will Christ be happy with our self-centered law keeping?  (See also I John 3:18-20).
 
Leviticus 16 explains the actions of the High Priest on the Day of Atonement.  Christ is represented by the High Priest on the Day of Atonement.  Not by a goat.  The High Priest will enter the Holy of Holies and sprinkle the blood of the bullock before the mercy seat seven times (verse 14).  Is this the connection to the Seven Last Plagues which avenge the blood of the saints?  Of course, the Seven Last Plagues will not be poured out on the Day of Atonement.  But the end-result of them being poured out between Pentecost and Trumpets will occur on the Day of Atonement.
 
In verses 11 to 13, the High Priest is to take a censer of coals which burns incense to create a cloud of smoke while Aaron enters the Holy of Holies so that the mercy seat is covered by smoke thus protecting the High Priest.  Verse 17 of Leviticus 16 says that no one can be in the Tabernacle while the High Priest is in the Holy of Holies making atonement.  This connects to Revelation 15:8, “And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power; and no one was able to enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.”
 
And what about the two goats?  Mr. Herbert Armstrong got it right about the live goat picturing Satan being bound for a thousand years as described in Revelation 20.  Whose blood will be slain on a future Day of Atonement as depicted by the slain goat?
 
“So, the angel swung his sickle over the earth and gathered the grapes of the earth, and he threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath.  And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and the blood that flowed from it rose as high as the bridles of the horses for a distance of 1,600 stadia (184 miles)” (Revelation 14:19-20).
 
“And from his mouth [Jesus] proceeds a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and He will rule them with an iron scepter.  He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty” (Revelation 19:15).
 
The Day of Atonement is another area which has become a hotbed of controversy.  So, my above explanation has been greatly challenged by others.
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